Are you a Gex appreciator? A Gex fanatic? Have you been vexed by Gex? Well, this is the week to truly show your love for the reference-making lizard, as it’s Gex Week!
Gex Week was started by indie game developer Izzy Kestrel back in 2022, and was a series of objectively good tweets celebrating the coolest lizard known to humanity. It only makes sense that Gex Week returns for a second year.
Now, Kestrel is taking it one step further for 2023. As reported by GamesHub (Leah, thank you), Kestrel has announced a new game jam on itch.io called GEX JAM 2023, and it’s all about Gex, baby.
The game jam description reads:
the 2nd annual Gex Week is upon us and what better way to celebrate than to create some gecko-centric content. fangames are obviously welcome and appreciated, but don’t limit yourself. the beautiful thing about Gex is that the world (of television) is his oyster!
GEX JAM 2023 aims to be an amalgamation of different creative works that are either Gex-themed, Gex-related, or Gex-adjacent. As Kestrel notes, some ideas other than just Gex fangames include a Frasier zine or a poem for Family Matters‘ Urkel. This is, as we know, because Gex loves television.
Kestrel also provides a range of sources, including her own microtalk about Gex (which is honestly really informative), a variety of longplay videos of the Gex games, and an entire video dedicated to explaining the jokes and references in Gex: Enter The Gecko. Everything one needs to make Gex art of any form.
Gex has had an undeservedly hard life. Since 2015, the Gex property had been up for grabs thanks to Square Enix’s “Collective” program, but with no bites.Then in December 2021, some hope was ignited as a trademark for Gex was filed by Square Enix, but we’ve heard very little.
And then, in May 2022, the Embracer Group purchased Crystal Dynamics alongside two other western Square Enix studios. What did this mean for Gex? Who knows. It’s so sad.
That being said, there’s no time to be sad. Not during Gex Week. This is a time of celebration for the lovable lizard. If you’d like to contribute to the GEX JAM 2023, you’ve got until February 20th, 2023.
Also, check out some of Kestrel’s games while you’re at it. They’re a treat!
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